* Sikh Temple Massacre is the Outgrowth of Pervasive White
Supremacism in U.S. Military Ranks (Matt Kennard interviewed
by Amy Goodman)

* Terror From the Right - Southern Poverty Law Center
Special Report (SPLC)

=====

Sikh Temple Massacre is the Outgrowth of Pervasive White
Supremacism in U.S. Military Ranks

Matt Kennard interviewed by Amy Goodman

Democracy Now!
August 9, 2012

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/8/9/author_sikh_temple_massacre_the_outgrowth

Wisconsin Sikh temple shooter Wade Michael Page was open
about his neo-Nazi views when he served in the U.S. military
from 1992 to 1998. We speak to journalist Matt Kennard, who
details the rise of the far-right radicals in the armed
forces in his forthcoming book, "Irregular Army: How the
U.S. Military Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and
Criminals to Fight the War on Terror," out next month.
"Every base has its problem with white supremacists because
they are allowed to operate freely," Kennard says. "This is
not a problem that is specific to certain bases ... it's all
over the United States. It was all over Iraq and it's all
over Afghanistan."

AMY GOODMAN: We are talking about the killings of the Sikh
Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Our guest is Pete Simi. He
is a University of Nebraska at Omaha criminology professor,
co-author with Robert Futrell of the book, "American
Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of
[Hate]," Joining us from Omaha, Nebraska. we're also joined
by journalist Matt Kennard, author of the forthcoming book,
"Irregular Army: How the U.S. Military Recruited Neo-Nazis,
Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight the War on Terror."
Matt is joining us from Mexico City. Matt, you have been
following white supremacists in the military for some time.
Can you talk about the reaction to the killings in
Wisconsin, and the more you hear about the profile of Wade
Michael Page?

MATT KENNARD: Well, the interesting thing about Page is, you
quoted that "Stars and Stripes" article which said he was
completely open about his white supremacist and Neo-Nazi
inclinations in the 1990's. It's important to remember that
during the 1990s, this was a period after the Burmeister
trauma which you mentioned, and also the bombings in
Oklahoma which were carried out by Timothy McVeigh, another
veteran of the First Gulf War, who was decorated with a
bronze star as well. So, military in the mid-1990s was
embarrassed by the fact these first the active-duty veteran
had committed murder; indiscriminate murder. The narrative
is that they were cracking down at this point. Now, Page's
example shows this was not really the case. What is
[Unintelligible] is that during the War on Terror, even the
thin regulations that did exist were completely jettisoned.
I spent two or three years talking to veterans, extremist
veterans, much like page, and far right leaders, who
basically said that there was an open-door policy during the
war on terror. You could enter with swastikas tattooed on
you, with S.S. boats, with, basically, - basically the
military couldn't slow down because the had two occupations
to populate and not enough soldiers.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about the military's
regulation of enlisted Neo-Nazis and white supremacists. You
write about how the Army Command Policy describes the rules
for commanders to enforce. It says, "Participations in
extremist organizations and activities by Army personnel is
inconsistent with the responsibilities of military service."
Matt Kennard, can you talk about the Army's regulations?

MATT KENNARD: Well, the Army's regulations, and in fact the
military - the whole military, every branch - has been
ambiguous on purpose, so that at times of chronic troop
needs, like the War on Terror, they can basically allow
these people to stay in. The regulations are basically
reactive. The U.S. military, after a tragedy like in Oak
Creek or the Burmeister case, they are embarrassed by the
media reaction and the public who basically ask, why is our
taxpayers paying to arm and train these right-wing
extremists? So, the Army is on the back foot, and then they
say, we have tightened the regulation. But, in reality,
there is nothing proactive about it. Even the regulations
that are in place, which obviously are thin, were basically
completely jettisoned during the War on Terror. The quote
you used about right-wing extremism being inconsistent with
military service - I mean, it was completely consistent with
military service during the War on Terror. In fact, I heard
from extremist veterans themselves that their command would
send them on the hardest missions because, obviously, Neo-
Nazis, and gang members as well - which was a big problem,
which is worth mentioning as well - that they are seen more
as war-like.

AMY GOODMAN: Talk more about this. White supremacists in
places like Iraq and Afghanistan, and, unfortunately, as we
have seen this past weekend, next to a Sikh temple.

MATT KENNARD: Well, that is a good point that hasn't been
raised enough. What did it what did it mean for the occupied
populations to have this army that was riven with white
supremacists who saw the people they were occupying as
subhuman, as well as violent gang members? Gangs is also a
massive problem which we don't hear about as much about,
because often the violence committed in the United States is
inter-gang violence so it doesn't affect the public. There
have been spates of murders between gangs involving veterans
and active duty personnel. But, for the populations in Iraq
and Afghanistan, we will never know what kind of atrocities
were carried out Wisconsin-style. But, I'm sure they
happened. I mean, there's a few clues as to what these
soldiers were doing over there. One Neo-Nazi veteran, called
Kenneth Eastridge, is now serving a 10-year sentence for his
part in a murder in Colorado Springs, and he was serving in
Iraq with Neo-Nazi S.S. boats tattooed on his arm.

[Matt Kennard, investigative journalist now based in Mexico
City. His 2009 in-depth report for Salon in 2009 was titled,
"Neo-Nazis are in the Army now: Why the U.S. military is
ignoring its own regulations and permitting white
supremacists to join its ranks." He is author of the
forthcoming book, "Irregular Army: How the U.S. Military
Recruited Neo-Nazis, Gang Members, and Criminals to Fight
the War on Terror."]

==========

Terror From the Right

Southern Poverty Law Center Special Report

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right

At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a 7,000-pound truck bomb,
constructed of ammonium nitrate fertilizer and nitromethane
racing fuel and packed into 13 plastic barrels, ripped
through the heart of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
in Oklahoma City. The explosion wrecked much of downtown
Oklahoma City and killed 168 people, including 19 children
in a day-care center. Another 500 were injured. Although
many Americans initially suspected an attack by Middle
Eastern radicals, it quickly became clear that the mass
murder had actually been carried out by domestic, right-wing
terrorists.

The slaughter engineered by Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols, men steeped in the conspiracy theories and white-
hot fury of the American radical right, marked the opening
shot in a new kind of domestic political extremism - a
revolutionary ideology whose practitioners do not hesitate
to carry out attacks directed at entirely innocent victims,
people selected essentially at random to make a political
point. After Oklahoma, it was no longer sufficient for many
American right-wing terrorists to strike at a target of
political significance - instead, they reached for higher
and higher body counts, reasoning that they had to eclipse
McVeigh's attack to win attention.

What follows is a detailed listing of major terrorist plots
and racist rampages that have emerged from the American
radical right in the years since Oklahoma City. These have
included plans to bomb government buildings, banks,
refineries, utilities, clinics, synagogues, mosques,
memorials and bridges; to assassinate police officers,
judges, politicians, civil rights figures and others; to rob
banks, armored cars and other criminals; and to amass
illegal machine guns, missiles, explosives and biological
and chemical weapons. Each of these plots aimed to make
changes in America through the use of political violence.
Most contemplated the deaths of large numbers of people - in
one case, as many as 30,000, or 10 times the number murdered
on Sept. 11, 2001.

Here are the stories of plots, conspiracies and racist
rampages since 1995 - plots and violence waged against a
democratic America.

Full report (long) at:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right
or
http://cdna.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/publication/terror_from_the_right_2012_web_0.pdf

==========

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